An Bord Pleanála's backlog in deciding planning appeals has now grown to some 3,600 cases which is roughly a year's intake.
That is according to ex- appeals board interim chairperson, Oonagh Buckley who said while dealing with this backlog will be a significant challenge, she expects an increased number of cases to be decided upon in the second half of 2023.
Ms Buckley makes her comments in the 2022 annual report for An Bord Pleanála which shows that the number of cases decided last year was 2,115 - a 23% decrease on the 2,775 cases decided in 2021.
The report was signed off in July by Ms Buckley when she was interim chairperson before Ms Buckley commenced a new role as Secretary General at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications last month.
Ms Buckley stated that by the end of 2022, the total number of cases on hand was 2,580 up from 1,165 in 2021 and the compliance rate for appeals stood at 46%.
The average number of weeks to decide planning appeals was 25 in 2022 compared to 18.7 weeks in 2021.
The appeals board for much of last year was engulfed in controversy with the resignation of its second highest official, deputy chairman Paul Hyde, in July 2022 as he was being investigated into allegations of conflict of interest.
Mr Hyde currently has an appeal before the circuit court concerning his district court sentence to two months in jail for failing to properly declare all his interests as a member of An Bord Pleanála.
In her report, Ms Buckley states that "2022 was a particularly challenging year for An Bord Pleanála".
"The organisation attracted much regulatory and public attention in relation to its operations and procedures, especially in relation to conflicts of interest that may arise during the course of the decision-making process," she said.
Ms Buckley stated that "the work necessary to restore confidence in the core function of An Bord Pleanála, namely making timely and well reasoned decisions on planning applications and appeals to help deliver sustainable development in Ireland, is a key focus of all in the Board in 2023".
The annual report shows that the appeals board's legal costs last year surged by 30% from €7.66m to €10m as it dealt with an increase in High Court judicial review cases of Strategic Housing Development (SHD) decisions.
Ms Buckley states that "legal costs for representation before the courts are substantial. Expenditure on legal costs was €9.6m in 2022 compared to €7.6m expenditure in 2021".
The court legal spend of €9.6m was made up of €4.82m on its own legal fees and €4.83 on "other side" legal costs.
The report states that 95 applications for judicial review of Board decisions by the High Court were made to that court in 2022.
The report records that there were 20 substantive court judgments delivered in 2022, 11 of which upheld the legality of the board decision while nine found against the Board and quashed the relevant decision.
In addition, the board conceded another 35 legal challenges in 2022 and 14 cases were withdrawn by the applicants for judicial review in the year.
The annual report states that "a large proportion of the increasing caseload of judicial reviews relating to An Bord Pleanála decisions concern complex matters of procedure and interpretation relating to EU environmental directives and procedures to do with handling of Strategic Housing Development applications".
It also states that it is accepted that recent judicial review outcomes "have seen a greater number of such cases conceded or lost and this is an outcome of the increasing complexity of those European law issues and novel issues relating to the strategic housing process".
The report also records that the appeals board paid out 134 penalty payments of €10,000 each - to developers totalling €1.34m in 2022 over the failure of the board to decide SHD cases within 16 weeks with a further eight SHD penalty payments, totalling €80,000, were made in early 2023.
The report states that there are no further SHD Penalty payments payable.
The report states that "this situation raises concerns from both a reputational and a case processing perspective with an outcome of an impact on financial resources".
The board's total expenditure last year increased from €30.8m to €34.9m as staff costs increased from €17.3m to €19.3m.
Dave Walsh resigned as chairman on November 3, 2022 and his salary for his time in office last year was €193,710.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
